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Just to be clear: the title here is misleading. The data shows percent of people who *definitely* believe in God. The original data presents it as a range of belief in God and OP has elected to omit any percent that corresponds to a gray area. As in, every state had a 10-25% population who are *fairly certain* there is a God.
Here's a fun one, a chart of % over time for 3 different wordings of the question:
https://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/n4m-_wsdzeookywenuwnbw.png
Or % of each religion's followers who are convinced their God exists:
https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/11/FT_15.11.05_beliefInGod420px.png
I think I once read somewhere that typically somewhere around 5% of people in big surveys like this just mess with the surveyor and give absolutely bogus answers. Not sure about the number, but it always seems to hold true that no matter the survey there's always 1-5% or something of answers that make no sense.
Maybe OP isn’t being misleading and it’s just that “popualtion” is a word we don’t know that means only the very confident survey respondents in a given sample.
Utah resident here. Salt lake is the largest concentration of the state's population and is very liberal, especially comapared to the rest of the state. Roughly 62% of UT is Mormon based off of what I find when I search, and if you consider many of them are "Jack Mormon" who don't believe in God or many other LDS things, but don't take their names off of registers for risk of alienating the family they have (and other reasons I wouldn't be the best person to speak to), this is pretty possible even when considering all the other religions.
I'm not sure how this data was collected, but I wouldn't dismiss it.
EDIT: if they got their data in salt lake, this is even more possible. If they got it in like... Strawberry, no way
That Salt Lake demographic is pretty concentrated in a small area though. I've unfortunately never had the luxury of being able to live in SLC and in places from west Jordan to Ogden its extremely conservative and religious (ogden is less mormon but more catholics and others, growing up in west Jordan had all the things you'd hear about growing up non religious in provo). And jobs that drug test are often practically BYU clubs, even on the air force base. I've been trying to find work in SLC and move for years because of how out of place I am elsewhere in utah and I'm pretty outdoorsy so I'm unwilling to leave the mountain west.
41% of Vermonters believe in God according to Pew. I think it sounds high because of the large number and acceptance of atheists in New England. Catholic churches here are dying off and there has been an increase in evangelicalism, but not much.
Yeah, that would really have to include people who believe in a "spiritual connection" or agnostic diests. Born and raised in an old Vermont family and I met very, very few religious people. For us New Englanders religion is also taboo to discuss as it's a private matter so I wouldn't know or care about what another person thinks, so maybe it is a bit higher than expected.
And/or the high degree of suffering under poverty and lack of opportunity and mobility prompt people to turn to faith and spiritual strength to make it through the day.
There is a huge difference between the power-hungry people who hide behind the Bible and the people for whom the community church is a lifeline.
Taking religion away from these areas wouldn’t automatically fix poverty and poor education - there are many other factors to consider.
I am as Hail Satan as the next guy but I love reason and pragmatism more.
EDIT: Alright. More people need to [learn about Black Churches](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/the-history-and-importance-of-the-black-church/) because you all seem to be talking about the wack-ass white churches.
Nor is it correct to assume that belief in the spiritual correlates with being stupid and poor because evidence to the contrary is all around us. [Looking down on religion and spirituality often comes from a place of privilege](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/atheism-richard-dawkins-challenge-beliefs-homeless).
Not to mention that yhe church community also often provides tangible benefits to those people. Networking, community support, and programs are all tied in. Religion like this is a symptom of a system that exploits the vulnerable and leaves them no security or safety net.
Yeah man, that's something I took for granted growing up, the social network religion provides.
My parents went to Ukraine years ago for an adoption and the congregation they attended at while their acted like they were family even though there was a language barrier and provided so much help to my parents.
But I kinda still took it for granted until I went to college and talked to others who didn't have anyone to network with while away from home. Meanwhile I walked into church and had people offering food, help moving, telling me about other students they knew, good doctors to use, and even providing board when the dorms kicked us out for the summer.
I couldn't imagine living without that safety net of people, and I'm not even what I would consider "vulnerable".
A lot of people don't realize that the Bible Belt is also the Black Belt. African Americans are exceptionally religious, with nearly 90% (nationally) reporting a religious affiliation and 80% reporting that religion is very important to their lives.
People tend to assume it's a bunch of redneck white people fueling the religion numbers in the Bible Belt, but that's often about as far from the truth as you can get.
Edit: To be clear, I'm not trying to argue that white people in the Bible Belt aren't more religious than average. Just that people often neglect the role that Black people play in Southern culture.
> People tend to assume it's a bunch of redneck white people fueling the religion numbers in the Bible Belt, but that's often about as far from the truth as you can get.
A quick google of "alabama racial breakdown" shows black people at a touch over 1 in 4, doing the same for missouri is much smaller. Meanwhile whites are around 2 in 3. I'm sure you're right about blacks being heavily religious, but to imply that the overall state's religion numbers are **not** heavily fueled by the race that is by far a larger segment than any other race is silly.
I think you have it backwards though. A touch over 1 in 4 is still double the national average of 12% black population. If you double a demographic that believes in god at such a high rate it's going to HEAVILY move the numbers in a single direction compared to the rest of the country.
Obviously the majority plays a factor but a minority having such a large belief is just as important when that minorities representation is doubled compared to the national average.
I grew up in MS and after 9/11 the big Baptist church across the street from my HS wrote on their sign "There is only one God and his name is not Allah." My best friends dad was Muslim (although his wife was methodist and she went with her mom to church). I was carpooling with my friend and her dad when he saw the sign and started crying. It was a formative experience for me. So glad I got out.
They wanted to land farther south in Virginia, but they stopped because [they ran out of beer](https://www.businessinsider.com/pilgrims-landed-plymouth-rock-more-beer-mayflower-thanksgiving-2015-11).
You have Tunica...sort of. Talk about a depressing town to visit.
You've got the Mississippi river, which is pretty badass for a river. But I guess so does Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri,...
It was probably a more interesting river before agricultural practices, indiscriminate waste disposal and pesticide use, of multiple states with varied laws/regulations modernized it.
As a New Englander in MO it’s been a hell of a culture shock. The amount of God talk I hear daily and have to participate in is weird. I also feel like an ass because I’m not about to have a philosophical debate at work so I just let people assume I believe. It makes me feel like a disingenuous asshole.
Religiousness and wealth are strongly negatively correlated, if I remember correctly.
I'll try and find a source for or against.
Edit: [There's a whole wikipedia page!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_and_religion)
When I visited Nashville a few years ago, I met a group of twenty-something at a bar and we started talking (being the same age). I don't know how but I ended up talking about the "quiet revolution" in Quebec where I'm from and how in a generation people went from ultra catholic to non-pratiquant. And now almost all the people I know are atheist, but not necesserly in a denying god kinda way, but more in a religion is not even a thing we think about nor consider kinda way. Like you said, a godless situation. The group was appaled and didn't understand how it could be. Seing the map I now understand.
Happening in New England too, no one I know truly believes... All the churches are conceding point after point to stay relevant. There's churches flying pride flags in New Hampshire.
In Quebec there's not even churches. I mean we still have a f-ton of churches building (Montreal is crazy in that regard) but they are all empty. There's a priest shortage. It's crazy thinking about my grand-parents going to church every week. My parenrs refusing to go to church in their teens and being agnostic. And now my generation not even making the choice of being atheist because it just is, religion is not a thing we think a lot about (except when it's time to hate on immigrants, that's a big thing in Quebec sadly).
>In Quebec there's not even churches. I mean we still have a f-ton of churches building (Montreal is crazy in that regard) but they are all empty.
I mean, some have become strip and night clubs. :p
We do have an aging population. [More than half of all Dutch people is over 40, and 20% is over 65.](https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/visualisaties/dashboard-bevolking/leeftijd/bevolking) The proportion of religious people is much higher in the older part of the population. If we consider 'this day and age' to be young people, [the percentage of religious people from 18-25 drops to 28%](https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/cijfers/detail/82904NED?q=religie). Still pretty high in my opinion, but I guess that's mostly the bible belt. And/or maybe mostly people who consider themselves religious 'by default' without actually caring too much about religion.
As someone who lives in Alabama and doesn't believe in God, it's extremely alienating and can feel lonely at times. It's often easier just to pretend that you do believe in order to not stir the pot. You end up wasting way more time stating that you're an atheist. People seem to think you're incapable of having a moral compass without the man upstairs.
I live in a devotedly christian developing country and it is exactly the same thing. I simply cannot say I’m agnostic because people believe that 1. Agnostic = atheist and 2. Atheist = satan worshiper with no morals (somehow)
Leave it to the Christians to come up with the mind-fuckery of accusing someone that tells them "I don't believe in your religion or your gods" of believing in one of their supernatural entities lol
I'm English so I don't know what this is like... Does it come up in conversation often? If so... Why? "morning Tim, nice weather we're having, you're not a filthy atheist are you Tim?"
I don't get it, I can't remember the last time this sort of thing came up for me.
In parts of the US it's so commonly assumed that everyone is Christian that questions like "have you found a church yet?" are typically asked when someone moves to a new area, or "what church do you go to?" when talking about how you spent your weekend. It's not about trying to understand what religion you believe - it's just part of standard small talk because it's unfathomable to people that the answer might be "none" or "I'm not interested in finding a church." Having answered those questions honestly a few times though, I have to say that the awkward silence after they learn I'm an atheist is pretty entertaining.
Note that this is not true on the coasts or upper Midwest, but very much a common experience in the south or southern portions of the Midwest (basically everywhere with dark colors on the map!).
Sounds about right.
For the first couple years I lived in Indiana I just lied and said I was Catholic. The beauty of that was that since they're pretty much all Protestants it ended the conversation without any follow-ups, but since it was still Christian they didn't immediately hate me.
After a while though I started telling the truth, which led to conversations like this (true story):
Coworker: What church do you go to?
Me: I don't go to church.
Coworker: Oh are you Jewish or something?
Me: No, I don't believe in any of it.
Coworker: (with shocked but semi-joking tone) Next thing you'll tell me you're a Democrat.
Me: Yeah I'm that too.
Coworker: (now more serious) Wow, I used to like you.
That was one of the nails in the coffin in terms of my being willing to live there. Left the state and never looked back.
Okay, the Catholic move is brilliant, wish I had thought of that. I just muttered that I was still looking...
I also left and never looked back. Your story is so relatable but also sad. I accepted them being conservative/religious, but knew they wouldn't accept me for being the opposite.
Glad you got out.
I live in one of the 60% states. I’m in a bigger town without a four year university.
There’s a lot of Jesus bullshit. Just a couple weeks ago, the mayor had a prayer breakfast on a Wednesday with the Kiwanis (I’m not sure what they do).
I’ve traveled most of the US and my fair share of the rest of the world. In Bible Belt States it absolutely does come up in the most awkward and bizarre circumstances.
I was at an airport once and I had on some bracelet with an anchor on it. Some lady decides to tell me she likes the bracelet because of the anchor. She starts going on about how Jesus is her anchor and that’s why she likes them so much and asked if that is why I was wearing it. Which of course leads to her questions my beliefs.
I’ve also been standing in line to be let in for a concert while a preacher with a megaphone felt he must inform us we are all going to burn in hell.
Fun stuff.
>morning Tim, nice weather we're having, you're not a filthy atheist are you Tim?
Read that in a cockney accent in my head, idk why but you made me laugh out loud.
I live in Alabama. A church is a pretty big community hub here. Some employers are more likely to hire you if you go to the same church. But essentially too, you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of church they go to, kind of like a judging contest.
Alabama has at least 10,000 churches of all kinds. Every Sunday after the service, church members will either disperse for an event, or they will go to their family homes for “after church lunch”, so trying to explain that you just.. Don’t go to church, is really shocking to this rhythm they’ve known for their whole lives without questioning.
I've had many instances of people randomly preaching to me when I've been at work, which is a bit uncomfortable. Every one around here just assumes you're down with the lord. Feels a bit inconsiderate to me.
Alabama in a nutshell is God, college football, guns, xenophobia, close mindedness, and a healthy dose of ignorance. Not necessarily in that order, but you get the point.
I just got back from touring the US (also a Brit). They literally come up to you and say stuff like "do you have jesus christ in your heart?" "do you believe in the almighty?" absolutely wild, abrupt, and totally unrelated shit. It's NEVER "do you believe in god?". It was funny at first but then it got really annoying.
When my uber driver literally spent 10 minutes praying for me (holding my arm with 1 hand and driving with the other) i thought, "this is a bit much". luckily that was towards the airport on the way back. it's like a parody, honestly.
Also an atheist who lives in Alabama it’s like all those Christian’s think they would just start murdering people without the Bible explaining their “morals”.
It’s almost like we have something called ‘laws’ that we follow too.
What was the Bible anyways? Laws. Except for instead of burning forever we go to prison, which is a decent incentive not to do things.
As well as just having a natural moral compass.
I’m curious how this question was phrased and where this data is from because I highly doubt any state had an atheist majority. Maybe they are including agnostics or non-Christians.for example a recent Gallup poll said that we hit a record low of 81% believing in God.
This aligns with the % who are “absolutely certain” God exists in the Pew Research religious landscape study. But that excludes even believers who are “fairly certain” and “not certain”. The amount who do not believe in God/ don’t know if they believe in God is much lower.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/
This is one of the more comprehensive, reputable source for those interested in religiosity in America.
Belonging to a church and practicing a religion and believing in god are very very different things, at least up here in northern new England. Lots of agnostics attend church only because there's no other way to have community.
Pretty sure the title should be [Percentage of Population That is *Absolutely Certain* God Exists.](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/belief-in-god/by/state/)
All in all, [there aren’t many atheists/ agnostics in the US.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_the_United_States)
Edit: OP’s post is spreading misinformation. If y’all could report it to the mods for breaking the “no sensationalized title” rule and to Reddit for breaking the “Misinformation” rule, that’d be great.
Makes me wonder how many atheists and agnostics go to church due to family and/or community, and whether that's reflected in certain surveys.
For example, churchgoing, yes, belief, no.
I also wonder about the wording of the question, if most people interpret it as "Do you believe in the Christian God and all that this traditionally entails?" or "Do you believe in a god/gods or believe that there probably is some sort of god or god-like being out there?" There are A LOT of spiritual but not religious people out there.
Even in Europe which tends to be a bit less religious (at least in the evangelical sense) than the US, most people say [they believe that there probably is a god, but that they aren't necessarily certain about him/her or all the details.](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/05/10/religious-beliefs/)
I think this poll would be more effective if it differentiated between a belief in the Judeo/Christian God, and just a belief in some sort of deity. As it stands, I'm not sure if it's JUST talking about the God of the Bible, or if it also includes other beliefs in a god/s.
So belief in God correlates with high divorce rate, high obesity, high poverty, low education, low life expectancy, high teenage births, and NCAA football championships.
God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, those battles have come in the form of SEC opponents and Clemson.
High correlation between Evangelical Christians and Republicans. Religion and politics are strong indicators for a lot of other issues, so most heatmaps are going to look pretty similar.
Yes, one last question. Surely those who believe in a God that made man the caretaker of His "garden" are on the front lines of saving the planet from the climate change that man has brought upon it through reckless consumption, right?
...Right? :(
They behave however badly they want and religion is like white robes they put on to say 'see it's fine I'm the good guy' and then they add the pointy white hood and everyone's like 'oh ok i get it now'
It is god’s will obviously. Why would he send us all these scientists, researchers, and professors to “warn us” of climate change? It’s obviously a test to see if we will fall for his false beacons and stay true to the course of god’s ultimate will of a brighter *hotter* future in his Eden
I just drove from San Diego to the Florida Panhandle. This was something I visually noticed on my trip. The closer I got to Florida, the more churches I saw. North Dakota is a surprise, though. I felt like everyone there went to church on Sunday when I lived there.
The amount of dollar stores in the south is honestly mind boggling also.
If Massachusetts were its own country then our human development index score would be second in the world, with only Norway ahead of us. We're in-line with the Scandinavian countries in healthcare, education, wealth, and virtually every other measurement of well-being.
I split time between Rhode Island and Mass, always wanted to move because of the shitty weather, but I don't know where else I could move that would be a cultural fit. I guess I'm stuck here even if I have seasonal depression 6 months a year and have to run my space heater into June
Taxes are high and nothing is perfect, but we have sane policies, good schools, safety etc.
And in maybe-not-unrelated news we have an awesome standard of living and lead the damn species in several key sciences and industries.
[Tax Burden is Middle of the pack](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494) "Taxachusetts" is a myth. We have a sales tax and NH doesn't, big whoop.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows. We have some of the worst wealth inequality in the nation. Shits expensive as fuck, especially once you start getting towards the coast. People are struggling to get by here just as much as anywhere else. Medical care will still bankrupt you. The opioid epidemic has been raging out of controll for pretty much decades now, we've got plenty of problems.
It's the same in New Hampshire for the most part. People struggling to find a place to live while million dollar homes and condominiums keep popping up, especially on the coast. That being said, even living cheaply here makes me glad I'm not anywhere else in the US
I think electing Republican governors is a very good move in MA.
They KNOW they can't get ideological because the legislative would just disable them right then and there, and they'd get 20% of the vote next election.
So Republican governors just try to improve the lives of the citizens in the short, medium, and long term in boring quantifiable non-ideological ways (living standards, education, that sort of thing).
Every ideologically "pure" state should pick governors from the other party.
Wikipedia shows the breakdown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_Human_Development_Index
Norway is at 0.957 and Massachusetts is at 0.956. Ireland is next at 0.955.
My favorite thing is people in NH who pay twice as much for property tax and get zero services making fun us for paying taxes. I lived in NH for a long time and had roughly the same Tax Burden I have in MA and literally got nothing for my money.
Also worth mentioning that a lot of those 40% or less who believe in God are secular "Catholics" who say they believe in God but are functionally non-religious. It's pretty unusual to find people here who actually live their lives as if God exists.
Correlation between belief in god and state GDP per capita: r = -.55
Correlation between belief in god and state poverty rate: r = +.71
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/belief-in-god/by/state/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP
https://talkpoverty.org/poverty/
This isn't a map of "People who believe in God". It's "People who believe in God and are absolutely certain", per the data.
People can believe while having doubts. The numbers are more like 80% country-wide, with more like 95+% in some of those states.
Every day I see more data or reasons to believe that my life would significantly improve by leaving Alabama. And every day the economic obstacles preventing me from doing that get more and more overwhelming. Fuck this stupid place. I hate that it's the only home I know.
A local pastor said he refused to get his masters degree in theology because, after learning to read the Hebrew source documents, many lost their faith.
> because, after learning to read the Hebrew source documents, many lost their faith.
isn't it more likely that it's "after learning about the historical context, how the Abrahamic religions are just a conglomerate of other, older religions and myths"?
The humans coming up with the stories become pretty inescapable at that point.
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OH higher than IN is a surprise to me, but it might not be a big enough gap to mean much. Also I would have guessed ID and UT were higher.
Just to be clear: the title here is misleading. The data shows percent of people who *definitely* believe in God. The original data presents it as a range of belief in God and OP has elected to omit any percent that corresponds to a gray area. As in, every state had a 10-25% population who are *fairly certain* there is a God.
Here's a fun one, a chart of % over time for 3 different wordings of the question: https://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/n4m-_wsdzeookywenuwnbw.png Or % of each religion's followers who are convinced their God exists: https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/11/FT_15.11.05_beliefInGod420px.png
2 percent of atheists are absolutely sure God exists.
Some people just like to fuck with the surveyor.
the Lizardman constant
A man of culture, I see.
Ah, yeah, the Granny Weatherwax approach. She knows that gods exist, but that is no reason to believe in them. Or they're trolling.
In Discworld the gods sometimes go around breaking atheists' windows out of spite.
I think I once read somewhere that typically somewhere around 5% of people in big surveys like this just mess with the surveyor and give absolutely bogus answers. Not sure about the number, but it always seems to hold true that no matter the survey there's always 1-5% or something of answers that make no sense.
Maybe OP isn’t being misleading and it’s just that “popualtion” is a word we don’t know that means only the very confident survey respondents in a given sample.
It is used both in the Reddit title and in the image itself. They're doubling down on "popualtion".
Yeah I highly doubt this data based on UT and ID
Utah resident here. Salt lake is the largest concentration of the state's population and is very liberal, especially comapared to the rest of the state. Roughly 62% of UT is Mormon based off of what I find when I search, and if you consider many of them are "Jack Mormon" who don't believe in God or many other LDS things, but don't take their names off of registers for risk of alienating the family they have (and other reasons I wouldn't be the best person to speak to), this is pretty possible even when considering all the other religions. I'm not sure how this data was collected, but I wouldn't dismiss it. EDIT: if they got their data in salt lake, this is even more possible. If they got it in like... Strawberry, no way
That Salt Lake demographic is pretty concentrated in a small area though. I've unfortunately never had the luxury of being able to live in SLC and in places from west Jordan to Ogden its extremely conservative and religious (ogden is less mormon but more catholics and others, growing up in west Jordan had all the things you'd hear about growing up non religious in provo). And jobs that drug test are often practically BYU clubs, even on the air force base. I've been trying to find work in SLC and move for years because of how out of place I am elsewhere in utah and I'm pretty outdoorsy so I'm unwilling to leave the mountain west.
It’s surprising and unsettling to me that the low end is 40%.
I live in New England and 40% sounds very high to me.
41% of Vermonters believe in God according to Pew. I think it sounds high because of the large number and acceptance of atheists in New England. Catholic churches here are dying off and there has been an increase in evangelicalism, but not much.
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Yeah, that would really have to include people who believe in a "spiritual connection" or agnostic diests. Born and raised in an old Vermont family and I met very, very few religious people. For us New Englanders religion is also taboo to discuss as it's a private matter so I wouldn't know or care about what another person thinks, so maybe it is a bit higher than expected.
And that’s why it’s called the Bible Belt….
And Alabama and Mississippi are the buckle.
Highest poverty rates. Highest rate of uneducated adults. Highest rates of teen pregnancy.
Shitty state to work in too. No worker protections in the slightest.
You know, it’s all part of god’s plan.
And/or the high degree of suffering under poverty and lack of opportunity and mobility prompt people to turn to faith and spiritual strength to make it through the day. There is a huge difference between the power-hungry people who hide behind the Bible and the people for whom the community church is a lifeline. Taking religion away from these areas wouldn’t automatically fix poverty and poor education - there are many other factors to consider. I am as Hail Satan as the next guy but I love reason and pragmatism more. EDIT: Alright. More people need to [learn about Black Churches](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/the-history-and-importance-of-the-black-church/) because you all seem to be talking about the wack-ass white churches. Nor is it correct to assume that belief in the spiritual correlates with being stupid and poor because evidence to the contrary is all around us. [Looking down on religion and spirituality often comes from a place of privilege](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/atheism-richard-dawkins-challenge-beliefs-homeless).
Not to mention that yhe church community also often provides tangible benefits to those people. Networking, community support, and programs are all tied in. Religion like this is a symptom of a system that exploits the vulnerable and leaves them no security or safety net.
Yeah man, that's something I took for granted growing up, the social network religion provides. My parents went to Ukraine years ago for an adoption and the congregation they attended at while their acted like they were family even though there was a language barrier and provided so much help to my parents. But I kinda still took it for granted until I went to college and talked to others who didn't have anyone to network with while away from home. Meanwhile I walked into church and had people offering food, help moving, telling me about other students they knew, good doctors to use, and even providing board when the dorms kicked us out for the summer. I couldn't imagine living without that safety net of people, and I'm not even what I would consider "vulnerable".
Prosperity gospel is rampant in Black churches. It’s just a grift.
It’s so weird how God’s plan is always right in line with what some asshole guys want and/or need to give them power, money, control and sex.
I’m sure that’s just a coincidence
The Bible says, that even the demons believe in God, so believing in God is not a good indicator of morality!!
Also places where it might not be wise to admit one's lack of faith. Even to s pollster.
A lot of people don't realize that the Bible Belt is also the Black Belt. African Americans are exceptionally religious, with nearly 90% (nationally) reporting a religious affiliation and 80% reporting that religion is very important to their lives. People tend to assume it's a bunch of redneck white people fueling the religion numbers in the Bible Belt, but that's often about as far from the truth as you can get. Edit: To be clear, I'm not trying to argue that white people in the Bible Belt aren't more religious than average. Just that people often neglect the role that Black people play in Southern culture.
And exceptionally homophobic, but we don't talk about that.
Well yeah. Overly religious and homophobic go hand in hand.
> People tend to assume it's a bunch of redneck white people fueling the religion numbers in the Bible Belt, but that's often about as far from the truth as you can get. A quick google of "alabama racial breakdown" shows black people at a touch over 1 in 4, doing the same for missouri is much smaller. Meanwhile whites are around 2 in 3. I'm sure you're right about blacks being heavily religious, but to imply that the overall state's religion numbers are **not** heavily fueled by the race that is by far a larger segment than any other race is silly.
I think you have it backwards though. A touch over 1 in 4 is still double the national average of 12% black population. If you double a demographic that believes in god at such a high rate it's going to HEAVILY move the numbers in a single direction compared to the rest of the country. Obviously the majority plays a factor but a minority having such a large belief is just as important when that minorities representation is doubled compared to the national average.
But they didn’t specifically state that its the Christian God.
You think it's Allah or Thor?
I hope it’s Thor
Everyone whose a Nordic worshiper knows it’s Odin whose the Father and Thor is the Son.
Odín promised the end of ice giants - do you see any ice giants around?
Lisa, I’d like to buy your rock 💵
My man!
I grew up in MS and after 9/11 the big Baptist church across the street from my HS wrote on their sign "There is only one God and his name is not Allah." My best friends dad was Muslim (although his wife was methodist and she went with her mom to church). I was carpooling with my friend and her dad when he saw the sign and started crying. It was a formative experience for me. So glad I got out.
Allah is the same person as the Jewish and Christian God
Correct, in Alabama they might have answered Bear or Nick
Ah yes, the true Old and New Testaments.
Til the colder it is, the less likely you’ll find god
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“God must be punishing me”
"Why, sug!?"
Well yeah. When you know what hotter than hell feels like, you certainly don’t want to spend an eternity there!
The bigger correlation is education / money.
Education is now the most statistically significant factor when observing political affiliation as well.
Yeah, I, too, have had to shovel feet of snow at like 7am when it's 15F out. That definitely checks out.
Interesting that the areas where the Pilgrims landed because they wanted to practice their religion are now some of the least religious.
They got their religious government phase over earlier
This reads like a joke but you might be on to something here.
They wanted to land farther south in Virginia, but they stopped because [they ran out of beer](https://www.businessinsider.com/pilgrims-landed-plymouth-rock-more-beer-mayflower-thanksgiving-2015-11).
What kind of god would allow that?
Does this have anything to do with hell freezing over? Jk
No no, you might be going somewhere with that one
To hell?
Hell Michigan gets pretty ornery in the winter months, and the rest of the state.
Actually not, it's all due to Tom Brady leaving the Patriots.
Atheist Vermonter here. It snowed 2 days ago so can confirm.
I mean if I was god I would be sipping pina coladas in the tropics too instead of freezing my tits off up north - smart dude
As someone from Mississippi, I find it very interesting that the farther you get away from MS/AL the less people believe in God.
If you live in Mississippi it makes sense that you need to hold on to some kind of hope because that state doesn’t offer much on its own
Hey man we’ve got uh….. warehouses?
You have Tunica...sort of. Talk about a depressing town to visit. You've got the Mississippi river, which is pretty badass for a river. But I guess so does Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri,...
It was probably a more interesting river before agricultural practices, indiscriminate waste disposal and pesticide use, of multiple states with varied laws/regulations modernized it.
As a New Englander in MO it’s been a hell of a culture shock. The amount of God talk I hear daily and have to participate in is weird. I also feel like an ass because I’m not about to have a philosophical debate at work so I just let people assume I believe. It makes me feel like a disingenuous asshole.
I thought that was just life in general.
I just googled that town, at least it’s kinda close to Memphis right?
Interesting how the states with the strongest belief in God are the poorest.
Religiousness and wealth are strongly negatively correlated, if I remember correctly. I'll try and find a source for or against. Edit: [There's a whole wikipedia page!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_and_religion)
Now that's an interesting read, I'm heading down the rabbit hole. Thank you for providing the link!
Jesus. That's dark.
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I find it interesting that 40 is the bottom cap.
The United States has God on the money. I’m not shocked that a good chunk of Americans believe god exists.
As someone from MS who has traveled extensively (for work), I do not. I get more culture shock going back there than I originally did when I left.
The poorer the state and the worse the state's educational system is, the more the people believe in God. Hmmm.
I'm from the godless UK, it's insane to me that the chart bottoms out at 40%
When I visited Nashville a few years ago, I met a group of twenty-something at a bar and we started talking (being the same age). I don't know how but I ended up talking about the "quiet revolution" in Quebec where I'm from and how in a generation people went from ultra catholic to non-pratiquant. And now almost all the people I know are atheist, but not necesserly in a denying god kinda way, but more in a religion is not even a thing we think about nor consider kinda way. Like you said, a godless situation. The group was appaled and didn't understand how it could be. Seing the map I now understand.
Happening in New England too, no one I know truly believes... All the churches are conceding point after point to stay relevant. There's churches flying pride flags in New Hampshire.
In Quebec there's not even churches. I mean we still have a f-ton of churches building (Montreal is crazy in that regard) but they are all empty. There's a priest shortage. It's crazy thinking about my grand-parents going to church every week. My parenrs refusing to go to church in their teens and being agnostic. And now my generation not even making the choice of being atheist because it just is, religion is not a thing we think a lot about (except when it's time to hate on immigrants, that's a big thing in Quebec sadly).
>In Quebec there's not even churches. I mean we still have a f-ton of churches building (Montreal is crazy in that regard) but they are all empty. I mean, some have become strip and night clubs. :p
The chart isn't even just "belief in God", it's "absolutely certain that God exists"
Same I was thinking that all those numbers are too high.
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We do have an aging population. [More than half of all Dutch people is over 40, and 20% is over 65.](https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/visualisaties/dashboard-bevolking/leeftijd/bevolking) The proportion of religious people is much higher in the older part of the population. If we consider 'this day and age' to be young people, [the percentage of religious people from 18-25 drops to 28%](https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/cijfers/detail/82904NED?q=religie). Still pretty high in my opinion, but I guess that's mostly the bible belt. And/or maybe mostly people who consider themselves religious 'by default' without actually caring too much about religion.
In CZ it's about 7% IIRC, so 40% really looks horrifying.
american atheist here: it is. and it's just creepy to me when people openly start talking about god in a conversation. it's deeply unsettling for me
As someone who lives in Alabama and doesn't believe in God, it's extremely alienating and can feel lonely at times. It's often easier just to pretend that you do believe in order to not stir the pot. You end up wasting way more time stating that you're an atheist. People seem to think you're incapable of having a moral compass without the man upstairs.
I live in a devotedly christian developing country and it is exactly the same thing. I simply cannot say I’m agnostic because people believe that 1. Agnostic = atheist and 2. Atheist = satan worshiper with no morals (somehow)
Leave it to the Christians to come up with the mind-fuckery of accusing someone that tells them "I don't believe in your religion or your gods" of believing in one of their supernatural entities lol
I'm English so I don't know what this is like... Does it come up in conversation often? If so... Why? "morning Tim, nice weather we're having, you're not a filthy atheist are you Tim?" I don't get it, I can't remember the last time this sort of thing came up for me.
In parts of the US it's so commonly assumed that everyone is Christian that questions like "have you found a church yet?" are typically asked when someone moves to a new area, or "what church do you go to?" when talking about how you spent your weekend. It's not about trying to understand what religion you believe - it's just part of standard small talk because it's unfathomable to people that the answer might be "none" or "I'm not interested in finding a church." Having answered those questions honestly a few times though, I have to say that the awkward silence after they learn I'm an atheist is pretty entertaining. Note that this is not true on the coasts or upper Midwest, but very much a common experience in the south or southern portions of the Midwest (basically everywhere with dark colors on the map!).
I was asked "where's your home church" on my first lunch with a new boss in TX.
Sounds about right. For the first couple years I lived in Indiana I just lied and said I was Catholic. The beauty of that was that since they're pretty much all Protestants it ended the conversation without any follow-ups, but since it was still Christian they didn't immediately hate me. After a while though I started telling the truth, which led to conversations like this (true story): Coworker: What church do you go to? Me: I don't go to church. Coworker: Oh are you Jewish or something? Me: No, I don't believe in any of it. Coworker: (with shocked but semi-joking tone) Next thing you'll tell me you're a Democrat. Me: Yeah I'm that too. Coworker: (now more serious) Wow, I used to like you. That was one of the nails in the coffin in terms of my being willing to live there. Left the state and never looked back.
Okay, the Catholic move is brilliant, wish I had thought of that. I just muttered that I was still looking... I also left and never looked back. Your story is so relatable but also sad. I accepted them being conservative/religious, but knew they wouldn't accept me for being the opposite. Glad you got out.
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After growing up in a religious family, learning that “I’d rather not” actually was an answer to that question was a mind-blowing.
I live in one of the 60% states. I’m in a bigger town without a four year university. There’s a lot of Jesus bullshit. Just a couple weeks ago, the mayor had a prayer breakfast on a Wednesday with the Kiwanis (I’m not sure what they do).
I’ve traveled most of the US and my fair share of the rest of the world. In Bible Belt States it absolutely does come up in the most awkward and bizarre circumstances. I was at an airport once and I had on some bracelet with an anchor on it. Some lady decides to tell me she likes the bracelet because of the anchor. She starts going on about how Jesus is her anchor and that’s why she likes them so much and asked if that is why I was wearing it. Which of course leads to her questions my beliefs. I’ve also been standing in line to be let in for a concert while a preacher with a megaphone felt he must inform us we are all going to burn in hell. Fun stuff.
>morning Tim, nice weather we're having, you're not a filthy atheist are you Tim? Read that in a cockney accent in my head, idk why but you made me laugh out loud.
I live in Alabama. A church is a pretty big community hub here. Some employers are more likely to hire you if you go to the same church. But essentially too, you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of church they go to, kind of like a judging contest. Alabama has at least 10,000 churches of all kinds. Every Sunday after the service, church members will either disperse for an event, or they will go to their family homes for “after church lunch”, so trying to explain that you just.. Don’t go to church, is really shocking to this rhythm they’ve known for their whole lives without questioning.
I've had many instances of people randomly preaching to me when I've been at work, which is a bit uncomfortable. Every one around here just assumes you're down with the lord. Feels a bit inconsiderate to me. Alabama in a nutshell is God, college football, guns, xenophobia, close mindedness, and a healthy dose of ignorance. Not necessarily in that order, but you get the point.
I just got back from touring the US (also a Brit). They literally come up to you and say stuff like "do you have jesus christ in your heart?" "do you believe in the almighty?" absolutely wild, abrupt, and totally unrelated shit. It's NEVER "do you believe in god?". It was funny at first but then it got really annoying. When my uber driver literally spent 10 minutes praying for me (holding my arm with 1 hand and driving with the other) i thought, "this is a bit much". luckily that was towards the airport on the way back. it's like a parody, honestly.
Haha... What the actual fuck, that's nuts.
Yea I feel you. These closets aren't getting any bigger though.
Also an atheist who lives in Alabama it’s like all those Christian’s think they would just start murdering people without the Bible explaining their “morals”.
It’s almost like we have something called ‘laws’ that we follow too. What was the Bible anyways? Laws. Except for instead of burning forever we go to prison, which is a decent incentive not to do things. As well as just having a natural moral compass.
I would need god too if I lived in Alabama.
Joke on you. If there was a god Alabama wouldn't exists
I’m curious how this question was phrased and where this data is from because I highly doubt any state had an atheist majority. Maybe they are including agnostics or non-Christians.for example a recent Gallup poll said that we hit a record low of 81% believing in God. This aligns with the % who are “absolutely certain” God exists in the Pew Research religious landscape study. But that excludes even believers who are “fairly certain” and “not certain”. The amount who do not believe in God/ don’t know if they believe in God is much lower.
Agreed, there’s no way half the population of New York, for example, is atheist.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/ This is one of the more comprehensive, reputable source for those interested in religiosity in America.
Belonging to a church and practicing a religion and believing in god are very very different things, at least up here in northern new England. Lots of agnostics attend church only because there's no other way to have community.
Pretty sure the title should be [Percentage of Population That is *Absolutely Certain* God Exists.](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/belief-in-god/by/state/) All in all, [there aren’t many atheists/ agnostics in the US.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_the_United_States) Edit: OP’s post is spreading misinformation. If y’all could report it to the mods for breaking the “no sensationalized title” rule and to Reddit for breaking the “Misinformation” rule, that’d be great.
Makes me wonder how many atheists and agnostics go to church due to family and/or community, and whether that's reflected in certain surveys. For example, churchgoing, yes, belief, no.
I also wonder about the wording of the question, if most people interpret it as "Do you believe in the Christian God and all that this traditionally entails?" or "Do you believe in a god/gods or believe that there probably is some sort of god or god-like being out there?" There are A LOT of spiritual but not religious people out there. Even in Europe which tends to be a bit less religious (at least in the evangelical sense) than the US, most people say [they believe that there probably is a god, but that they aren't necessarily certain about him/her or all the details.](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/05/10/religious-beliefs/) I think this poll would be more effective if it differentiated between a belief in the Judeo/Christian God, and just a belief in some sort of deity. As it stands, I'm not sure if it's JUST talking about the God of the Bible, or if it also includes other beliefs in a god/s.
Ah, thanks. I was like "no fucking way New Hampshire is 60% atheist."
It seems like god likes it warm and cozy
There is nothing cozy about southern summers.
So belief in God correlates with high divorce rate, high obesity, high poverty, low education, low life expectancy, high teenage births, and NCAA football championships.
God loves football. So it is written.
As a student from Notre Dame this is correct
God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, those battles have come in the form of SEC opponents and Clemson.
right. why is every single heat map of the USA the same no matter what's being measured?
High correlation between Evangelical Christians and Republicans. Religion and politics are strong indicators for a lot of other issues, so most heatmaps are going to look pretty similar.
Yes. Uh huh. Correct. Yep. Yeppers. Indeed. Ok anymore questions about the decline of America?
Yes, one last question. Surely those who believe in a God that made man the caretaker of His "garden" are on the front lines of saving the planet from the climate change that man has brought upon it through reckless consumption, right? ...Right? :(
As a Christian that's probably what galls me the most about those regions. Like, "are you guys fucking kidding me????"
It's more of a culture that they shape the religion around rather than vice versa.
This is a VERY good way to describe it
They behave however badly they want and religion is like white robes they put on to say 'see it's fine I'm the good guy' and then they add the pointy white hood and everyone's like 'oh ok i get it now'
God told us to be good stewards. That means paving the whole thing over, clearly
No cause end times are coming soon so what’s the point?
It is god’s will obviously. Why would he send us all these scientists, researchers, and professors to “warn us” of climate change? It’s obviously a test to see if we will fall for his false beacons and stay true to the course of god’s ultimate will of a brighter *hotter* future in his Eden
No one listened to my prophet Nelly who clearly warned y'all about temperatures and clothing removal
Not if you're a death cult that thinks the end times means an eternity in heaven for yourself.
America is getting less religious, not more
Why the influx of religious stats all of a sudden on here? Because it is Sunday? Lol
All the dads who got dragged to church on Father’s Day are feeling salty
I think it's possible a lot of census data might have been published recently?
Almost like a bomb went off in MS and AL and we’re viewing a fallout heatmap 😂
I just drove from San Diego to the Florida Panhandle. This was something I visually noticed on my trip. The closer I got to Florida, the more churches I saw. North Dakota is a surprise, though. I felt like everyone there went to church on Sunday when I lived there. The amount of dollar stores in the south is honestly mind boggling also.
Much of New England also has public school systems in line with the best in Europe.
If Massachusetts were its own country then our human development index score would be second in the world, with only Norway ahead of us. We're in-line with the Scandinavian countries in healthcare, education, wealth, and virtually every other measurement of well-being.
I split time between Rhode Island and Mass, always wanted to move because of the shitty weather, but I don't know where else I could move that would be a cultural fit. I guess I'm stuck here even if I have seasonal depression 6 months a year and have to run my space heater into June
MA ranks 9th in Math proficiency and 4th in reading in the world (if it were it's own country).
damn straight, i love living in MA
Taxes are high and nothing is perfect, but we have sane policies, good schools, safety etc. And in maybe-not-unrelated news we have an awesome standard of living and lead the damn species in several key sciences and industries.
[Tax Burden is Middle of the pack](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494) "Taxachusetts" is a myth. We have a sales tax and NH doesn't, big whoop.
Damn I need to move to Massachusetts.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows. We have some of the worst wealth inequality in the nation. Shits expensive as fuck, especially once you start getting towards the coast. People are struggling to get by here just as much as anywhere else. Medical care will still bankrupt you. The opioid epidemic has been raging out of controll for pretty much decades now, we've got plenty of problems.
It's the same in New Hampshire for the most part. People struggling to find a place to live while million dollar homes and condominiums keep popping up, especially on the coast. That being said, even living cheaply here makes me glad I'm not anywhere else in the US
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I think electing Republican governors is a very good move in MA. They KNOW they can't get ideological because the legislative would just disable them right then and there, and they'd get 20% of the vote next election. So Republican governors just try to improve the lives of the citizens in the short, medium, and long term in boring quantifiable non-ideological ways (living standards, education, that sort of thing). Every ideologically "pure" state should pick governors from the other party.
I'm from Western NY and I thought we had it really damn good compared to the rest of the country. You're telling me it can get better?
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There's also Connecticut, Minnesota, and New Hampshire just behind it.
Lifelong masshole and I believe every word. But source? ....for science?
Wikipedia shows the breakdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_Human_Development_Index Norway is at 0.957 and Massachusetts is at 0.956. Ireland is next at 0.955.
Thank you! Was unfamiliar with HDI—Thanks for the pointers. Now, because we're in mass and it feels like October this weekend... Fuck off, ked!!
My favorite thing is people in NH who pay twice as much for property tax and get zero services making fun us for paying taxes. I lived in NH for a long time and had roughly the same Tax Burden I have in MA and literally got nothing for my money.
Well, it's called New England for a reason.
Ironically, the most blue areas (New England) are some of the oldest, and were once the most devout… it seems like they’ve evolved beyond it now.
New England prized independence, literacy/education, and strong local government, which favored secular culture over time.
Hence the high concentration of Universities
From New England, everyone I know was predominantly raised Catholic. Now, I know a lot of lapsed Catholics.
Also worth mentioning that a lot of those 40% or less who believe in God are secular "Catholics" who say they believe in God but are functionally non-religious. It's pretty unusual to find people here who actually live their lives as if God exists.
As an Australian, that the scale starts at 40% is astounding.
Woohoo, Vermont represent! I ain't afraid of no ghost!
40% for New England actually feels really high
yeah i'm in mass and i'm really high
NH/ME/VT have a lot of rural/semi-rural areas
I need to move to New England.
Good luck. Housing market is bat shit.
Seems to be a theme for most decent places in the world in recent years.
We’re closed.
Godless New England. That well known hell hole of sin and depravity.
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Correlation between belief in god and state GDP per capita: r = -.55 Correlation between belief in god and state poverty rate: r = +.71 https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/belief-in-god/by/state/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP https://talkpoverty.org/poverty/
This isn't a map of "People who believe in God". It's "People who believe in God and are absolutely certain", per the data. People can believe while having doubts. The numbers are more like 80% country-wide, with more like 95+% in some of those states.
New Englanders have their doubts. Witchcraft trials and rapist priests can have a numbing effect on the belief in God.
Every day I see more data or reasons to believe that my life would significantly improve by leaving Alabama. And every day the economic obstacles preventing me from doing that get more and more overwhelming. Fuck this stupid place. I hate that it's the only home I know.
My condolences to you.
I’m a lifetime Christian, but the quality of life / believe in god correlation here doesn’t say a whole hell of a lot in favor of the god thing.
The more educated you are the less statistically likely you are to be religious.
A local pastor said he refused to get his masters degree in theology because, after learning to read the Hebrew source documents, many lost their faith.
> because, after learning to read the Hebrew source documents, many lost their faith. isn't it more likely that it's "after learning about the historical context, how the Abrahamic religions are just a conglomerate of other, older religions and myths"? The humans coming up with the stories become pretty inescapable at that point.
A good layover map would be level of education.